By George Ankers

The Liverpool star outshone partner Daniel Sturridge to notch 14 points, while Southampton again offered results at a bargain price but Christian Benteke flopped on his comeback

THE WINNERS

Love him or hate him, there is no room for sentiment in fantasy football and Luis Suarez (10) will get you points. The Uruguayan put on a show of devastating finishing at Anfield, bagging a hat-trick against West Brom to mark himself out as the highest-scoring player this week by a mile.

It's not often that a goalkeeper sits second in the weekly standings but those backing Tim Howard (4.5) of Everton were vindicated with a penalty save and clean sheet against Aston Villa that at last gave Artur Boruc some competition in the most-valuable-No.1 stakes.

Though the Pole was pipped to the dream team this week, Southampton continued their fine form and, though left out in favour of Dani Osvaldo last time out, Rickie Lambert (7) capitalised on the Italian's injury to register a goal and an assist for fellow forward Jay Rodriguez (5.5), who reciprocated the gesture.

The latter, in particular, was one of several less typical fantasy football picks to excel this weekend, with the cheaper options matching their more elite colleagues. Andre Schurrle (7.5) has struggled to make his mark among a herd of fellow attacking midfielders this season but got the first goal against Manchester City for a seven-pointer, while bargain Everton star Leon Osman (5.5) went even better with a goal and an assist.

With goalscoring defenders the dream for every discerning fantasy player, not many might have banked on Mathieu Debuchy (4.5) but he delivered his first strike in Newcastle colours despite their derby defeat to lead the ranks at the back in gameweek 9.

Below him, several players earned six points this week – and those who backed our tip to select Southampton's Nathaniel Clyne (4.5) this week were rewarded, the same going for any of their again-impenetrable back line.

GAMEWEEK 9 DREAM TEAM

THE LOSERS

As is to be expected, losing 4-1 is not going to win you many points and West Brom's Jonas Olsson (4.5) followed up a strong week last time out with a -1 after Suarez's rampage at Anfield, his fellow defenders faring little better.

There was also disaster for Stoke City as Manchester United came back to seal a spectacular triumph and, as we warned you in our preview, it was a bad day for Ryan Shawcross (5), leaving just under 10 per cent of our fantasy managers cursing the hosts' late recovery. The centre-back and partner Robert Huth (5) scored absolutely nothing between them.

The other half of Manchester did not have it so good, however. A mammoth 26.82% of players picked Pablo Zabaleta (6) in their back line but the Argentine picked up no points, a result in no small part due to the calamitous Chelsea winner that saw both Matija Nastasic (5.5) and Joe Hart (6) culpable.

Meanwhile, as Howard drew plaudits for his penalty save, Aston Villa's Christian Benteke (8) marked his comeback from a month of injury with a miss from the spot. Selected by 26.46% of teams, managers awaiting his return eagerly were rewarded with just one point, disastrous for his value.

TEAM NEWS

He may have scored a penalty but a red card for Mikel Arteta (6) means that the Arsenal midfielder may miss the next game with suspension. Five points despite getting sent off, however, is a solid way to apologise to one's fantasy manager.

There was worse news for Morgan Amalfitano (5), who has had a fine start to his West Brom career, as the on-loan midfielder was withdrawn just before half-time with an injury. The Baggies have yet to establish how long the Frenchman will be on the sidelines but expect him to be out of your team next week.